Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We here in eastern Iowa are getting our first taste of winter with a possible accumulation of 3 to 4 inches of snow.

I am heading out to Williamsburg to my parents house tonight. I, being the one to prepare the turkey, kind of need to get up early to get it started. My hubby is staying home and sleeping in our own bed because of his back. Makes sense.

I got the job of doing the turkey with my family several years ago because I watched Good Eats on the food network and learned about brining. My 22 pounder is now sitting in a concoction of vegetable broth, koscher salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, garlic flakes, and other herbs to give it tenderness and flavor. It works great!! You should try it sometime.

Anyway, I also do the dressing. (stuffing is evil!) ( to understand that, please check out Good Eats on the Food Network web site). One with meat and the other without. We have a family friend who is a vegetarian.

I also bake bread. Well, I have a bread machine. Well, actually I have three bread machines. They are all the same brand DAK. They don't make them anymore, but I think they are the best bread machine out there and they make really large loafs. I make a French bread that calls for two egg whites beaten to soft peaks. Really great bread.

So, I'm getting ready to gather all of my food. The turkey is in the brine inside one of those orange coolers you see at work sites. Dressing is done and ready to transport. Bread is baked and in a zip lock bag. I am also taking along a few movies that we might watch, some music, and clothes of course. No computer, you say? No Internet access at my parents house. Hey, they just got cable for the first time in there lives since moving to town a little over a year ago.

I think I've rambled enough. I hope everyone has safe travel and a very nice Thanksgiving.
Think about all the things you have to be thankful for and don't eat too much bird. ;-)